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Basslines for Practice

#25
I've posted this song before because of the church vibe and different bass patterns you can use. I like Ronnie Dyson's song- 'I don't want to cry' on his greatest hits album circa '1972-76? Bass player sounds like Chuck Rainey's chops, not sure. I can get 90% note for note; improvise the other 10%. check it out if you can.
 
#26
Dr. Cheese said:
Slow tempos are difficult!
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That is why most of my practicing is in the 40 to 80bpm range. Another thing I like to do with a drum machine is to take what I'm practicing and do it against different presets and shift my phrasing to lock it in since some presets have a straight feel and others swing. Symmetrical Diminished Death Metal Riffs have a unique jazzy sound when you swing them.

City said:
Sorry not Funk, but this tests my brain to finger, Not that I am a big country fan, but how about the "Band of Demons" baseline from the Devil Went Down to Georgia, by Charlie Daniels....can test my brain....at least...
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Isn't that around the same part of the track where the FUnk guitar riff comes in for a couple of bars from out of nowhere?

C/S,
Rev J
 
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#28
Here's a great one for ya. And it's not as easy as it seems if you play it right. Slippin into Darkness by War. You really have to feel it and lock in to make it work. And it's not as straight forward as it seems.
 
#32
Dr. Cheese said:
My teacher has told me to tighten up my sense of time. He says I am fine with others, but I drift when playing by myself.
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Look deeper and diagnose where you are off timing-wise. Learn the art of self-correction... your teacher can only point the way, you have to discover it yourself.

do you speed up? When/where in the song? Slow it right down to better understand the distance between notes.

Rush the fun riffs? Incorporate expression (accents, staccato, etc) & make each note more interesting.

Syncopation not as tight as it should be? Count more subdivisions in your head, metronomes are great for teaching you to hear this.

That riff you recorded
- slow the beat down to half that speed
- set 16ths subdivisions.
- Learn to hear & feel the note length, and the rests between the notes you play.
- DON'T increase tempo until you've nailed it perfectly, and
- don't increase tempo anymore than 5bpm when you do, otherwise old habits kick in too quickly.


Relax, be patient with yourself, trust that it will all come together and be easy once the penny drops.
 
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#34
Dr. Cheese said:
My teacher has told me to tighten up my sense of time. He says I am fine with others, but I drift when playing by myself. His assignment is to take five basslines I know and play them with a metronome in all twelve keys for the next two weeks to improve my time.

I want help choosing basslines because I tend to pick pretty tricky riffs when I think of stuff off the top of my head. Two riffs I came up with are "Got to be Real" by Cheryl Lynn, and "I Want Your Love," by Chic.

I want to stick to funk/R&B/Disco because of the use of repetitive riffs in that sort of music.
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Twelve keys, one key, what's the difference if your timing is off. Working with a metronome is good but as long as you are using it, it doesn't matter what you are playing, as long as you lock in with it.
 
#35
radioface said:
Twelve keys, one key, what's the difference if your timing is off. Working with a metronome is good but as long as you are using it, it doesn't matter what you are playing, as long as you lock in with it.
Click to expand...

Practicing is different keys helps me with things besides my time. I have mainly played by ear all of these years. I am trying to really learn to thing musically after all of these years, so multi-tasking helps me.
 
#36
Groove Doctor said:
Look deeper and diagnose where you are off timing-wise. Learn the art of self-correction... your teacher can only point the way, you have to discover it yourself.

do you speed up? When/where in the song? Slow it right down to better understand the distance between notes.

Rush the fun riffs? Incorporate expression (accents, staccato, etc) & make each note more interesting.

Syncopation not as tight as it should be? Count more subdivisions in your head, metronomes are great for teaching you to hear this.

That riff you recorded
- slow the beat down to half that speed
- set 16ths subdivisions.
- Learn to hear & feel the note length, and the rests between the notes you play.
- DON'T increase tempo until you've nailed it perfectly, and
- don't increase tempo anymore than 5bpm when you do, otherwise old habits kick in too quickly.


Relax, be patient with yourself, trust that it will all come together and be easy once the penny drops.
Click to expand...

Your posts are a real help. I bet you are a great teacher!
 
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#37
Dr. Cheese said:
Practicing is different keys helps me with things besides my time. I have mainly played by ear all of these years. I am trying to really learn to thing musically after all of these years, so multi-tasking helps me.
Click to expand...
Nothing wrong with practicing in different keys but, a good sense of time is the same whether it's in one key or twelve keys. Why complicated bass lines? I would think that simple bass lines would help you get on track a bit faster. For timing, I used to use a metronome, sheet music and a pencil to mark off the beats but that was back in the stone ages, I'm sure there are more and better tools available now for the task.
 
#38
radioface said:
Nothing wrong with practicing in different keys but, a good sense of time is the same whether it's in one key or twelve keys. Why complicated bass lines? I would think that simple bass lines would help you get on track a bit faster. For timing, I used to use a metronome, sheet music and a pencil to mark off the beats but that was back in the stone ages, I'm sure there are more and better tools available now for the task.
Click to expand...

I have been playing funk and R&B since 1975. I have been playing Gospel for maybe twenty-two years. I already know these lines. I just want to play them consistently in time by myself.

I guess I was spoiled by being a bedroom player so many years. The recording kept the beat, and I did not have to.
 
#39
I find listening as great a part of learning as practice. Listening to some of the time masters would be an excellent point of departure. Art Tatum and Tito Puente are two of the great time masters and easily accessible. I realize they're new to your musical taste ("playing funk and R&B since 1975"). There's a saying that each time you taste a new food you live another day longer. Can we extend that to musical styles?

One of the players/teachers here, @enricogaletta , recommends Afro-Cuban Bass Grooves by Manny Patiño and Jorge Moreno for "all my students for several bass topics, latin grooves, time keeping and groove skills" in another thread here. It is an amazing book.
 
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